Chapter 23- Cavemen and the Untouched
"Chevron four encoded," Laura heard Walter, the technician's voice. In the few weeks she had been involved with the Stargate everyone had grown used to Laura being around and like Teal'C, she knew more about the gate and the Goa'uld than anyone. Walter had said that she reminded him of his sister's kid, Jane and General Hammond said she was like one of his granddaughters.
"You're late. Put these on," Jack said, handing Daniel and Laura night-vision goggles.
"Doesn't look like my prescription," Daniel said, examining them.
"Chevron six encoded," Walter said as Laura watched the gate spin.
"Thermal night vision goggles," Carter said in answer to Daniel's unspoken question.
"Hey, here's a question. Why doesn't the M.A.L.P. have a set of these?" Laura asked as she looked at her own goggles.
Carter and Jack grinned as the gate locked in the destination. "Chevron seven, locked," Walter said as the event horizon came up.
"SG-1 and SG-3, you have a go. Repeat, you have a go," Hammond said.
"Okay, we'll take the point," Colonel Makepeace said as he pushed past Jack. Jack put his fingers on Makepeace's camo jacket.
"Ahh. We'll go through first. You watch our backs, remember?" Jack asked, as he put a hand on the back of Laura's neck and they made their way to the gate.
"Are you out of your mind?" Daniel asked as he put on his hat.
"If Skaara or Sha're are on the other side, those jarheads will open fire as soon as they see the light of their eyes, if you know what I mean. You want that?" Jack asked. Daniel looked as if he was thinking that over and then held out his hand, indicating that they should go forward.
"Give us a ten count, then come on down," Laura said to Makepeace and his team. Laura felt cold prickles as she stepped through the gate. As soon as she stepped through, she heard Daniel sneeze. Apparently he was still allergic to gate travel, but everyone seemed to have gotten over the motion sickness, with the exception of her and Teal'C, who had never had it.
Laura took this time to look around. It was dark and still. No birds sang and it felt like late fall. The DHD was intact so they could get their ride home and the M.A.L.P. looked to be okay, but it looked like the battery had died. Jack stooped to look at it. "Fan out," he whispered to Laura and everyone.
Everyone pulled down their night vision goggles and looked at the ground. Laura looked up at the sound of branches and twigs snapping and there was some movement in the trees. A loud scream startled all of them and something jumped on Jack. "Dad!" Laura screamed as one tried to jump on her. Laura grabbed it by the arms and tossed it into a large tree. The sound of machine gun fire and Teal'C's staff weapon nearly caused Laura to pass out.
"I'm real glad it was you who took point," Makepeace joked as they all got slowly to their feet.
"Nah, I'm okay. Thanks for askin,' " Jack snarked as he helped Laura get to her feet.
"Everybody else?" Laura asked.
"I think so," Carter said, her breathing a little choppy.
"What were those things?" Daniel asked, his voice a little slurred.
"I haven't the slightest idea," Jack said as he went to the one Laura had tossed and pulled back the sheared wool covering on his face. He had all the appearances of a caveman that Laura had seen in history books about the Neanderthal period. Jack looked up in mute confusion. A confusion Laura felt as her Goa'uld memory still couldn't remember these kinds of creatures. This had to be a planet that was so backward that the Goa'ulds had thought it was not important.
"Anyone you recognize, kid?" Jack asked.
"No. He's not a Goa'uld. There is no Goa'uld with these kinds of facial features. This guy looks like something from the prehistoric era in my history books," Laura said. They all looked up to see a fire burning through the trees. After ordering Makepeace and his men to fan out, they all crouched and looked through the trees. A group of men was standing there, growling like animals.
"Daniel, what are they?" Jack asked.
"Well, they don't look completely Homo Sapien. I have to agree with Laura. They look like, in better terms, cavemen. The larger browridge would imply Homo Erectus, but then again they'd have canine teeth. They could be Australopithecus, but the browridge would be less prominent," Daniel rambled. Laura then noticed a girl, who looked positively terrified.
"You don't know, do you?" Jack asked.
"No," Daniel admitted.
"Uh, Dad, why does that one female look different? She looks more human," Laura said.
"She probably is someone the cavemen want to marry," Daniel said.
"Oh, okay. But she can't be much older than me! Shouldn't we stop this?" Laura asked as rocks whistled through the air, hitting the cavemen.
"Where are all those rocks coming from?" Daniel asked.
"There!" Jack said, pointing to some figures in light clothing. "Makepeace, you and your men take a wide left flank. We'll take the right. Go! Let's go!" Jack said as all of them went either left or right.
"Don't move!" Jack shouted, pointing a machine gun at the white-robed figures. "All right! Hold your fire!" Jack ordered.
"Lower your weapons!" Makepeace said to his men.
"They could be Goa'ulds," a man named Johnson said.
"I'll check," Laura said, walking up the a hooded figure.
"Just keep 'em covered," Jack said as Laura pulled down the collar, exposing the back of the neck.
"There's no entry scar, Dad. They're not Goa'ulds. Lower your weapoms, everybody," Laura said as she went to stand next to Jack and the robed people knelt before them.
"Any idea what they are?" Jack asked Daniel.
"My lord, we are the untouched. I am High Counselor Tuplo," a man said, removing the covering from his face and looking at all of them with something akin to reverence.
"We are pleased the gods have deemed us worthy of a return visit," the woman Laura examined chimed in.
"Gods," Jack said skeptically.
"Ah, only the gods come through the stargate. I think they're talking about us. We should probably start getting used to this treatment," Daniel said sheepishly.
"Oh, for crying out loud! We're not gods. Get up," Laura snapped.
"Please," Daniel said softly.
"Come on," Jack said as he helped the woman up.
"Perhaps they wish us to treat them as mortals. A test?" The woman whispered to Tuplo.
"Please, let us take you to the land of light," Tuplo said, leading the way out of the forest. Laura looked back to see two people helping the girl up. She was softly whimpering behind them. Laura felt light nearly blind her as they left the forest and entered a glade. The light was as bright as noon day and a large city glimmered at the bottom of a ravine, with mountains in the back.
